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On The Thread podcast, books are just the beginning. Host Kerri Miller talks with comedians, scientists and other big thinkers about how books and reading have shaped their lives.

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Activist and writer Kevin Powell has spent a lot of time examining his own life. 

His new memoir, "The Education of Kevin Powell," explores his childhood, being raised by a single mother, and what it means to be a man in today's society.

But Powell wasn't always so self-aware. In fact, he told Kerri Miller that it took the writing of strong, feminist women — specifically Zora Neale Hurston  and her book, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" — to teach him how to be a man.

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Kevin Powell's memoir explores what it means to be a man in today's society. But, he said, he learned a lot of it from a woman: Zora Neale Hurston.

Activist and writer Kevin Powell has spent a lot of time examining his own life. His new memoir, 'The Education of Kevin Powell,' explores his childhood with the single mother who raised him  and talks about what it means to be a man in today's society. But Kevin wasn't always so self-aware. In fact, he told Kerri Miller that it took the writing of strong, feminist women, specifically Zora Neale Hurston's book, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," to teach him how to be a man.

Kevin Powell on what a woman taught him about being a man

Kevin Powell discussed Zora Neale Hurston

Kevin Powell on what a woman taught him about being a man

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